The Beach
by climbergirlio
Summary: Dairine,Roshaun,Nita,Kit,Carmela,and Ronan go to the beach. Schemes are made. This is a version of Dairine and Roshaun getting together. Story originally made to stand alone, but can be put between You Asked and Meet the Boyfriend. Def. not necessary to read them all, or even really in any order. Contains N/K D/R and C/R. Set after GWP. COMPLETE.
1. Preparing

**A/N: This story is the second in a loose series of three, all me meant to either stand alone or together. The first story chronologically is You Asked, the this one and then Meet the Boyfriend (coming later, as is not finished yet) They are all linked a bit, but they were actually started as separate stories. Enjoy! All characters belong to Diane Duane, like always.**

"Hey, Dair, Kit, 'Mela, Ronan and I are going to the beach, you wanna join?" Nita half yells across the house.

"Go and be a hardcore 3rd wheel for two different couples? Uh no thanks," Dairine responded almost instantly.

"You could invite Roshaun and then it would just be three couples," Nita teased.

Dairine squished down that feeling that was becoming harder and harder to suppress and answered her sister, "you of all people should think that it's really quite annoying when people say things like that to you, given how many years you had to deal with the same thing!"

"So you do like him then, because I'll admit that I like Kit."

"Well, duh, since you're dating!" Dairine was becoming increasingly glad that her dad was at work.

"Oh, just invite him so we can go!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Dairine called for Spot and typed out her message.

To: Roshaun ke Neliad am Seriv am Teliuyve am Meseph am Veliz am Teriaunst am det Nuiiliat…

From: Dairine Callahan

A few of us are headed to the beach to hang out for a while, if you would like to come. Bring a swimsuit (bathing garment) and a towel.

Then, she headed upstairs and searched through her closet for a swimsuit. She came up with an old bikini, now much too small, and her faded stretched out one piece. Neither was great for any sort of public place. She stormed into Nita's room, and held up the offending swimsuits.

"Oh dear," Nita said with a lack of sympathy, "those are not the right type of swimsuits for impressing Ro-" she cut off at Dairine's look.

"These are not the right kind of swimsuits for wearing outside my room."

Nita laughed, "you're probably right about that. Good thing 'Mela has the Crossings on worldgate delivery service. She can get you something in no time."

Just then, Spot trundled in, "incoming message."

Dairine looked through her mind link to Spot and saw the message.

To:Dairine Callahan

From: Roshaun ke Neliad am Seriv am Teliuyve am Meseph am Veliz am Teriaunst am det Nuiiliat…

I would be interested in partaking in this event, should there still be availability.

"He doesn't have to be so formal," Dairine muttered, then louder, "Spot tell him we will be waiting for him. Send."

"Actually, if you don't get changed, only I will be," Nita remarked.

Dairine gave Nita one of her patented death glares and left for Kit's house.


	2. The Beach

Dairine had ended up with a rainbow one piece that fit her perfectly. Apparently it wouldn't stretch either. That was good. She had put it on under her star wars T and some shorts. Now she was waiting for Roshaun with Nita, Carmela, and Kit. They were all going to transit together. They hadn't been waiting long when they heard the displaced air and then the back door open, revealing Roshaun. Hello's were briefly exchanged, before the spell was constructed.

"We're meeting Nolan in Hawaii," Kit explained, "because neither Nita or I really like to vacation on the Atlantic, and Hawaii has some great little-used beaches."

Dairine shrugged, "seems fair."

Within seconds they were in Hawaii. Ronan was already there. He and Carmela began instantly going over some of their chocolate distribution company plans. Nita and Kit were already ogling each other, and they were still in street clothes.

"Yup, I was right. Hard core 3rd wheeling," Dairine proclaimed.

Roshaun shot her an amused look, Nita rolled her eyes, and Carmela just gave her a knowing smile.

"Okay people. Stop being all couple-y and start having some fun! Sand castle building!"

"In teams!" added Carmela.

Dairine groaned.

The next hour was full of Nita and Kit's laughter as they built, as well as Ronan and Carmela's. As for Dairine and her partner, well…

"Dhairine, _what_ are you doing? A castle looks nothing like, that and I should know, since I live in one!"

Basically, by the end, Nita and Kit had a castle that obviously won, Ronan and Carmela a simple Irish looking thing, and Dairine and Roshaun had a feeble attempt.

 _But only because you kept destroying it._

 _I destroyed it? I was simply telling you how to make it more realistic._

 _By making it barely more than a pile of sand!_

They lapse into silence, annoyed. Nita begins passing out a picnic lunch, and everyone lounges around, eating in the warm sun. Which reminded Dairine.

"Neets did you bring sunscreen?"

Nita laughed, "per my usual pattern, no."

"Spot!" Dairine yelled, and he appeared. "Open a portal and grab me several bottles of that new sunscreen dad bought."

She had barely finished speaking before they landed in her hands. She drank a swig of water, no wizardry was without price, and then removed her shirt and shorts and slathered herself with it. As did everyone but Roshaun. And Carmela, but she was putting on suntan oil.

"I don't care if you are a sun king, you can still get burned, which I would be responsible for since you are on my planet. You do not want to go back home and have all your people look upon a king who has been burned to a crisp and suffered from skin cancer," Dairine informed him.

"These Callahan women," Ronan said sympathetically at Roshaun, and Dairine and Nita both glared at Ronan.

Roshaun gave Dairine a look, then, he too took off his normal clothing, and began to put on the sunscreen. Unfortunately, this left Dairine to look at the couples, who were pretending that they were not secretly trying to look at each other in swimsuits. Kit was practically drooling over Nita, and Dairine rolled her eyes in his direction. He didn't seem to notice.

"Don't we have to wait like 30 minutes before we go in the water now?" Nita asks.

Carmela, who had put on tanning oil instead of sunscreen, snorts, "if you're planning on actually swimming and not making the perfect tan."

Carmela was in a tiny red bikini, optimal for tanning. Ronan had on black swim trunks, Kit green and blue patterned ones, and Nita had on her favorite white two-piece. As for Roshaun, Dairine sneaked a quick glance at him. Brown swim bottom things. It was just her luck that Wellakhit did not wear some sort of top as well, now she would have to deal with him shirtless all day. She became aware that Nita was proposing a game of cards. This would be right up her alley.

They had only just explained the rules to everyone when a tourist happened upon them.

"Oh my I am sooo sorry to interrupt you lovely young couples' day at the beach, but I am ever so lost," said the apparently southern tourist woman.

"Actually-" Dairine began, but Nita cut her off, "You just go down that path for a ways and then...," Nita explained.

By the time the tourist lady was out of earshot, it had been about 45 minutes.

"Oh whatever, let's just go swimming, we can play cards later," Nita offers. Then, she and Kit are off racing towards the water.

Dairine sighed, realizing that this meant she could either go swimming or be stuck on land with the lovebirds Carmela and Ronan.

"Roshaun, you coming?" Dairine questions. Ronan gave the two them a look they were familiar with, particularly from him.

"Oh stop it Ronan," Dairine muttered.

"Gotcha Runt."

Dairine stuck her tongue out at him, "what Nita ever saw in you remains a mystery."

"I see plenty," added Carmela.

"Why thank you, favorite business partner," Ronan said with a gleam in his eye.

Dairine pretended to gag and then turned her back on them, heading for the water which Nita and Kit had already vanished into. If her suspicions were correct, they had swam out a ways, then probably used wizardry to go farther. Right about now they would be below the surface in some sort of force field. Dairine allowed herself a brief picture of that before being utterly disgusted.

"Well that is certainly an interesting image," Roshaun teased.

"You're still hearing me think?"

"Well, if you consider everything, really we have only known each other for approximately two of your people's months, so it is not that surprising," Roshaun explained.

Dairine quickly began shielding her thoughts. "Yeah, wow, it really has only been about 2 months, hasn't it? I rescued you a bit after a full year of you being in the sun, and that was, wow, just a bit over a month ago now. Before that, about 4 weeks."

They had been wading out into the water this whole time, and as the conversation ceased, the silence became awkward. The water was only up to about Dairine's navel, which left all of the shirtless Roshaun out of the water. Dairine was beginning to seriously regret inviting him. She turned towards shore, and she could still just barely see Ronan's face. He was watching them. Dairine shot him a look, to which he raised some suggestive eyebrows.

"Damn you, Ronan!" Dairine yelled towards him.

Roshaun put up his eyebrows in that way of his, "language, Miss."

"Oh, not you too!" Dairine exploded and dived into the water as a distraction.

Roshaun was kind enough to 'send' her his laughter.

Dairine swam for a ways underwater, but eventually had to come up to breathe. When she did, she surfaced into a wave, and accidentally swallowed the ocean water. She gagged and the coughed for while, all under Roshaun's amused eye. This day was really going well.

"What was it that Ronan did to make you so angry?" Roshaun asked.

Dang. This was really a conversation she did not want to be having right now, after all they had briefly touched on the subject before. However, that was on the Mobiles planet, they had both been fully clothed and also had not been in the ocean.

She gave a weak laugh, "oh, you know Ronan. Isn't this water very, uh, nice and ocean-y?"

She sounded pathetic even to herself.

"Oh, yes," Roshaun nodded skeptically, "very _ocean-y_." Dairine winced.

She spoke the words of a quick wizardry and made herself a hard patch of water to sit on, just enough under the surface that up to her navel would be under water. Roshaun followed suit, and then offered her a lollipop from his seemingly endless supply. She gratefully accepted, and the tension between them loosened somewhat. It was so much better to have somewhere to sit and something to do while they talked instead of just standing awkwardly in the water. Dairine busied herself with swinging her legs under the water.

"What is it that Ronan did?"

"Um."

"Dhairine, I know you well enough to know when you are avoiding something," Roshaun explained to her.

"Oh fine. He was being, uh, suggestive," Dairine used what she hoped was the correct word in the Speech for the English word, and hoped that Roshaun did not misinterpret it.

The expression on his face was briefly shocked and Dairine felt him placing mental walls. Not that she blamed him. She had practically built a fortress. The silence had once more become awkward.

Then, a sigh, "Ronan would not be alone."

Another sigh, "tell me about it. If one more of your people asks if I plan to seize the throne of Wellakh through intimate means, I cannot speak for the consequences."

A wince, "I _am_ rather sorry about that."

"Yeah, well I should have figured, based off my first conversation with Nelaid. And all the crap Nita went through with everyone about her and Kit being friends. Even though they are practically attached at the hip and head."

"Hip and head?"

"Well in my world be usually say hip, but I added the head part because they can hear each other think, oh nevermind."

"So then, they have always been destined for each other?"

"Oh, stop it with destiny. Actually, back all that time ago when I was twelve, Nita and Ronan had a thing going. Until Nita saw the One's Champion inside Ronan, which kinda ruined that."

"Interesting. And what about you?"

"Oh well," Dairine was horrified to find herself blushing. She thought quickly of an answer she could safely say in the speech, as saying that she was never attracted to no men ever would be a lie, and saying she wasn't attracted to anyone right now would be a lie. "Um I have never been that sort of a way with anyone." A safe enough reply, and one that was completely true, but vague. "Your turn."

"The same for me."

"Oh."

The silence was once more awkward. Dairine squirmed a bit on her patch of hardened water. Then, a lollipop went _Crunch!_ , and Roshaun broke the silence.

She gave him a look, "Roshaun!" Secretly, though, she was glad, it broke the tension in a way that was comfortable for them. "You will get cavities. It's only a matter of time."

"My people do not have such things."

"Because they don't have much in the way of sugary food!"

He gave her a skeptical look.

"Oh well whatever. I'm going back to shore to see about that card game maybe I can convince them to play poker."

And with that Dairine dove into the water, swimming towards shore.


	3. Scheming

"Oh look. She's swimming back."

"No!" came the anguished reply, "that wasn't how it was supposed to work."

Snickers all around.

"We get them to come to the beach, in swimsuits, and force them to spend time together, and _still_ nothing happens. How oblivious are they?"

"Must run in the family. Look how long it took us to get together."

Sighs all around, as the redhead who had been the subject of conversation surfaced, and walked towards them.

* * *

Dairine reached the shore and was surprised to see Nita and Kit were already there. And also that they were exchanging conspiratorial looks with the other couple.

"Lay it off you guys. I just wanna play some poker," Dairine said.

There were groans all around, but eventually every acquiesced.

As the cards were being passed out, Nita said, "don't you think your ruthless destroying of us is speeding up Entropy?"

Dairine shrugged, "Matt is always playing, and you don't yell at him."

"Dari-" Nita began.

"Also, I gotta get my money from somewhere, and I sure as heck don't want a job. If it makes you feel better, though, I joined a regular poker group with two friends of mine from school."

"Dari! That does not make me feel better!"

Dairine shrugged off her sister's concern, and began to play. Only Kit had even a slim shot at beating her. Carmela was pretty much terrible, as was Nita. Roshaun did better than she expected, especially for just having learned the game. Ronan was third best, Kit second, and Dairine won every round.

"And the Runt cleans us out once more!" Ronan announced as he lost all the rest of his pocket money.

She glared at him, "I suppose you deserved it, for all your name-calling."

Roshaun was eyeing Dairine's pile of earthen money, and a few random little gems he had had. Dairine gave him a superior look, and stored the money in her claudication, for later. Nita busied herself with passing out lunch, and soon everyone was busy eating. Dairine was sitting there, eating her plain ham&cheese sandwich, looking at all her friends. They were all spread out, but together, chatting. Maybe it was the heat of the beach getting to her, but Dairine was overwhelmed by an uncharacteristic rush of love for these people. Being that it was a particularly intense emotion, naturally Roshaun caught it.

 _I wonder when we are going to stop hearing each other think._ Dairine thought to him intentionally.

The feeling she caught from Roshaun was uncertain and hesitant. _Well, I am not quite certain. Does it bother you?_

 _Of course it bothers me! I have virtually no privacy!_

Roshaun was even more uncomfortable now

 _Sorry, sorry. I know it's not your fault. It's just that, I feel like I've known you for so long, even though as we already discussed, it's really only been two months of actually being here. I suppose it is unreasonable to expect the mind hearing to be over with already._

 _It does feel like it has been a long while._

 _Probably assisted by the fact that I spent so much time on your planet while you were gone._

"Yes," Roshaun said aloud.

She gave him a small smile, then began talking to Nita.

"I can't believe it's finally summer!" Kit exclaimed happily.

Nita laughed. "What better way to spend summer than at the beach with friends?"

"Well…" Kit said slyly, "I can think of one. How would you like to accompany me on a walk along the shore?"

Dairine groaned. Not ten minutes of being friends could be allowed. Not ten minutes!

"Ohhh what a lovely idea! Ronan, shall we?"

They set off in two opposite directions, laughing with their respective Significant Other's. Dairine made a face, and then pulled out a book to read. Somehow, Roshaun and her had ended up back to back. They were sharing a box of munching cookies. This felt comfortable, felt right. Neither of them was angry or embarrassed, they could just be themselves. So of course Spot popped in.

"Message for Dairine Callahan."

She sighed, "honestly! People need to realize I might have better things to do than talk to them all day."

"From Mehrnaz Farrahi."

"Oh, well then, that's a different story. What does Mehrnaz say?"

"She is asking if you are available, and that she has something to tell you."

Dairine looked over at Roshaun, "Mehrnaz was my mentee in the Invitational, do you mind if she pops in for a while? If she wants to talk face to face, thus must be something big."

"It is of no trouble to me. I would like to me the great Dhairine Callahan's protegé."

She sent him a look then said to Spot, "Okay compose message to Mehrnaz Farrahi. Hey Mehr, I'm currently at the beach with some friends, but you are more than welcome to come and talk. Send."

Then, Dairine sighed and laid down on her towel. Roshaun placed his towel next to hers and also laid down. Once more, an easy silence overtook them. The sound of the waves was comforting.

Dairine was aware that their friends had probably left them together on purpose, Carmela was obsessed with making Dairine and Roshaun into a 'thing'. And when Carmela wanted you to be a part of her plots, it was nearly fatal to deny her. Also, Nita and Kit were probably more than happy to comply with a romantic walk along the beach.

Dairine was shook out of her brooding by a bang of displaced air. She jumped up, and went over to Mehrnaz.

"Mehr!" she hugged her friend.

"Dairine!"

"How has everything been going? Your family treating you alright?"

"I'm fine, my family is fine. How about you? I haven't seen you in a while." Then suddenly Mehrnaz laughed, "and by a while I mean two weeks. Which is kinda funny since I've only known you for what, a month?"

Dairine laughed, "I've been fine. Really happy that it is finally summer."

Mehrnaz laughed too.

"Mehrnaz, this is my partner, Roshaun. Roshaun, this is Mehrnaz, my mentee for the Invitational, and friend."  
"Well met on the common journey," Roshaun nodded to her.

"You are the one who Dairine rescued from the sun during the Finals! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Mehrnaz gushed.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Remember how I got second?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well, I've been recognized pretty significantly since then, and today Irina came and visited me! She offered to give me some lessons in her very infrequent spare time!"

"Mehrnaz, that's great!"

They talked a bit more together, and eventually ended up at the water's edge. They both stood about ankle deep in the water, catching up.

"Is it nice to have a partner?" Mehrnaz asked, stealing a glance at Roshaun.

"Yeah, except for the whole overhearing each other's thoughts and feelings part. It can get kinda awkward if you overhear something you shouldn't have."

"Oh."

"And more than half the time I want to kill him. But, infuriating as he might be, I know how I felt when he was gone. He's my partner and best friend, and overall, yeah it's nice to have a partner."

Mehrnaz smiled, "I'm so glad you saved him. You deserve to be happy."

"Aww thanks Mehr."

The two embraced.

"But I thought you said you were at the beach with friends, plural. Where you considering Spot a friend."

"My sister, Kit, Kit's sister and Kit's sister's boyfriend are also here. They all went off on romantic beach walks," Dairine made a face.

"And left you here with Roshaun."

"Yes, the little conspiracists."

"Conspiracists?"

"Yes. I expect it was Carmela's fault. She is continually hatching plans for Roshaun and I to become a 'thing'. Kit will have gone along with it because 'Mela can be scary. And Nita will be doing it partially because she's my sister and partially because Kit is."

"Wow. Well then, have fun. I need to be getting back to Mumbai."

"Come visit again soon! It's always nice to see you."

Both girls headed back to where Roshaun was.

"Dai stihó Dairine."

"Dai"

"Well met cousin," Mehrnaz said to Roshaun.

"Dai."

And Mehrnaz disappeared with a small pop. And Dairine turned back to Roshaun, smiling.

"You have the most interesting friends."

"I'll decide to take that as a compliment, given you are one of those interesting friends," Dairine replied cheekily.

"When will everyone return?" Roshaun inquired.

"I have no idea. I generally try and stay away from them when they are being couple-y. I was right about this trip. Hardcore third wheel. Thanks for coming and sharing the pain," she told him.

They exchanged a smile.

Dairine went back to her towel and pulled out her book, firmly intending to read some more. Roshaun came over as well. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but obviously decided better of it. They spent the next ten minutes relaxing on the sand. Finally, Nita and Kit returned.

"About time," Dairine muttered.

Roshaun shot her another of his amused looks.

"How was your," Dairine checked the time via connection to Spot, "hour and a half long walk along the beach?"

"Magnificent," Nita breathed, smiling up at Kit.

Dairine pretended to gag.

"How was your hour and a half on the beach?"

"Great. Mehrnaz stopped by. She is going to be coached by Irina a few times," Dairine said, only slightly proud.

"That's great!"

Ronan and Carmela also returned from their walk. Carmela assessed Dairine and Roshaun, pretty much confirming Dairine's suspicions. Everyone set about coming up with ideas for what to do.

"A chicken fight!" Carmela finally decided.

"Oh, no. Nope, nope, nope," Dairine attempted.

"Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes. We played poker earlier. This is payback," Nita said evilly.

"Neets! 'Mela is rubbing off on you. Don't do this," Dairine practically pleaded.

Despite Dairine's best efforts, she was forced into the water. She had already put up mind walls. This was going to be awkward. The teams were Nita and Kit, Carmela and Ronan, and of course Dairine and Roshaun.

"First match is all three teams," Carmela announced.

"How exactly do you play?" Roshaun inquired.

Dairine buried her face in her hands, very uncharacteristically.

"One person climbs on the other person's shoulders and tries to knock the other people down," Carmela explained glibly.

"Let's do this!" Kit exclaimed, "your ride awaits m'lady." He crouched down and Nita hopped on his shoulders. Carmela was climbing on to Ronan's. Dairine sighed, and Roshaun helped Dairine onto his shoulders.

They won the first round. Then the second too. Dairine was surprised, but this was fun. Everyone was splashing and laughing. Despite it being awkward that she was on Roshaun's shoulders the whole time, it was even enjoyable. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone. Knowing them, this was all part of the plan to get the two of them together. And maybe, just maybe it was working.

Laughing Nita said, "let's do Rodriguezes versus Callahans."

Dairine jumped off of Roshaun, splashing everyone.

"Let's do it!" she said excitedly.

"Look who's had a change of heart," Nita teased.

"Whatever. I call sitting on your shoulders."

 _Probably because you are so small._

She stuck her tongue out at him.

And the battles began. The Callahans emerged victorious, probably because Dairine was very proficient in Jiu-Jitsu. When Nita and Kit faced off, Kit won by tickling Nita. Roshaun was the only person not to have actually done fighting by the end of the day. The battles ended with a face off of Ronan on Carmela's shoulders and Kit on Nita's. Ultimately, Ronan won.

After that, everyone headed back to shore. They all packed up, and headed for Dairine's house. They were having a barbeque, one of her dad's favorite beginning of summer traditions.

 **A/N: So parts of this story were based off of an image on young wizards .com (it won't let me enter addresses) The image is called quality time, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the main page, there is a slideshow of images. It is the one marked quality time.**


	4. The Party

After a quick shower, Dairine went to her room and found some pants she had received from Lady Miril, along with a different Star Wars shirt. She was sitting on her bed with Spot when a knock sounded on her door.

"Come in!"

Roshaun entered the room, and it was crazy, but it almost looked like he was freshly showered as well. She acknowledged him with a nod of her head, and turned back to the spell diagram she was looking at. It was for a project she was working on on Jupiter, again.

Roshaun sat on the edge of her bed, and it creaked.

Dairine looked up, "the springs never recovered since its time on Pluto."

"Your bed was on Pluto?!" Roshaun was incredulous.

"Nita sent it to a crevasse. It's funny, but that was how she caught Pluto's attention for being considered for the position of planetary."

"Wow," Roshaun said.

Dairine nodded and turned back to her work. It wasn't that Roshaun hadn't been in her room before, he had, but usually she invited him in, or they were working on something.

"Dhairine?" Roshaun began.

Just at that moment, Dairine's dad poked his head in, "sorry if I'm interrupting your work. Dairine, you know the Higley family, correct? I remember Becca coming over a few times way back when. Well, I did the landscaping for their family the other day, and I was talking to Peter. I invited them over."

Dairine shook her head, hoping to clear it. "Is Thomas coming as well?"

"I have no idea who that is, so I assume not."

Dairine laughed, "he is the other one of my normal friends. And Becca and Thomas are quite close."

"Oh, well, like I said I have no idea. Could you please finish up and come down?" he asked.

"Sure daddy, just give us a minute send anyone looking for me up here."

Dairine watched him head down the hall. She was happy that her dad was finally reconnecting with old friends. Then, she turned back to Roshaun.

"Sorry, you were saying?" Dairine asked.

He had a peculiar look on his face, "we can talk later, perhaps."

"Okay. Let me finish looking this over and we can head down."

She was just closing Spot when in walked Becca.

Becca seemed startled to see Roshaun.

"More introductions. Roshaun, this is Becca, she's a friend of mine. Becca, this is Roshaun. I believe I have mentioned him to you a few times."

Becca looked blank. Dairine sighed, "he is the one who was MIA last year. I found him about a month ago."

"It's very nice to meet you."

"Well met," Roshaun said in English, he knew some key phrases in Dairine's language, as she did in his.

Dairine mentally cursed herself, realizing Becca wouldn't understand the Speech.

 _Spot! Duplicate dad's speech hearing thingy for me!_

The package appeared on her desk. Dairine condensed it quickly. Thankfully, Becca was wearing jeans.

"Hey Becca, do you mind putting this in your pocket for me? I don't have any."

"Uh sure."

 _She can understand you now._

 _Okay._

"Well, let's go down to the party!"

Why did Dairine and Roshaun keep getting interrupted?

Finally the party was over, and it was just the wizards and Carmela left. They all sat out by the fire pit. Roshaun's parents had made an appearance, and brought Roshaun's puptent, as it was decided they were going to have a mass sleep over. They set up in Dairine's living room. Everyone had come up with blankets or sleeping bags, which were arranged on the floor. Dairine's father was offered to stay with the Rodriguezes for the night.

They stayed up telling stories and having fun, but Dairine noticed Roshaun was somewhat subdued. Eventually, Ronan, dealing with the time change requested they all go to bed. Dairine changed into her Star Wars pajamas for the sake of the guests, usually she wore an overlarge T-shirt. Nita had on her fluffy pajamas, and Carmela had on a pair with really short shorts. Kit was wearing pajama bottoms and an old T, as was Ronan in all black. Roshaun however, was wearing a sort of capri version of his normal sweatpants like things, and his floppy T-shirt. Everyone settled down into their chosen area. Soon, Dairine was fast asleep.


	5. Admissions

Dairine awoke in the middle of the night, and laid there for a while before getting up. Much to her surprise, Roshaun was not in the living room. She decided to go looking for him.

She walked through the house, and out into the backyard. He was staring at the moon.

"It's a lot less pretty if you know what happened there," Dairine whispered.

Roshaun was briefly startled, but then went back to looking at the moon.

"How long was it before you went back?"

"Finals for the Invitational. That was Kit's first time back as well." They were still whispering, and the moment felt fragile.

"Neither of us could face what had happened there."

Roshaun looked at her in concern.

"What did you want to talk to me about earlier?"

"Can we go somewhere else?"

She was briefly taken aback by this request.

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Back to the beach."

Dairine was surprised, but she set up the transit anyways. They came out back in Hawaii. It was dark, but not unbearably so. In fact, the beach was kind of beautiful, and the stars in the sky reflected on the water.

"I've been thinking," Roshaun began.

"Always dangerous," Dairine teased him gently.

"Dhairine! I was being serious," he pouts.

"I know, sorry," Dairine said.

 _He is really quite cute when he pouts_ Dairine thought. Then, _Wait, what? Where did that thought come from._

Dairine yawned. _It must be because I'm tired, it's three a.m. back at home and we went to bed at midnight. At least he didn't seem to hear._

"So I've been thinking."

"Yes, O, Sunlord, what is it that you have been thinking about?"

"Dhairine!"

"Sorry, it's lack of sleep. I'm not thinking straight. Or possibly low blood sugar. Or possibly I haven't had enough coffee lately after I was practically addicted. Maybe I should sit down," Dairine was rambling, again, very uncharacteristically. She realized she was nervous. What for, she had no idea. They both sat on the sand, facing each other.

Roshaun was eyeing her, "Dhairine, are you alright? All day you have seemed very unlike your normal self."

"I'm fine. Now where were we? Ah yes, you were thinking." Again she was nervous and spewing utter crap. Well, it was probably because a Kingling did not usually take his female wizarding partner to the beach at night to talk about business. This was about them.

"Dhairine, I've been thinking about us," Roshaun jumped up and started pacing. Apparently she wasn't the only nervous one.

Dairine stood up from where she had been sitting, and walked over to him. He stopped pacing. She kicked off her shoes, motioning for him to follow suite, which he did a little bewilderedly. Then she took his hand and led him to the water, where she stood in about mid calf high. Roshaun rolled his pant legs up a bit, apparently not wanting them to get wet. Not that they were wet, but if a particularly large wave came, they would be. Dairine was glad she had chosen the pajamas with the shorts.

"It's easier to talk here. The waves are calming, in my opinion," she told him.

"I realize," began Roshaun, "that you and I are partners. I also realize that we are both scared. Neither of us has ever gotten this close to anyone else before."

"Roshaun, I-" Dairine began, not quite sure where she was going.

He interrupted her, "but I also realize that we are from two different planets. My people don't accept you, and your people don't accept me."

Whatever she was expecting this wasn't it, "listen, I don't care if my fellow earthen humans don't accept you. _I_ do, which is all the justification I need. The truth of the matter is that, you, Roshaun are my best friend. Maybe it's different for you, but I know that for the first few weeks, I couldn't stand it. I fell asleep crying every night, because it hurt. I'd already lost my mother, and I hated that I had lost you too," she was going to say more, but Roshaun reached out and wiped a tear off her face.

"That was not where I was going with that. Yes, neither of us is accepted by the other's species as a whole, but being King, what I say is law, and I say _I don't care._ "

Dairine sniffled, "Thanks, Roshaun."

He pulled her to him in a hug.

Her pushed her gently away, "today was amazing, Dhairine. Even if you were distracted by wanting to play poker, then Mehrnaz, then Becca, it was probably one of the best days of my life."

"Roshaun?"

"Yes?"

"You are really quite cute when you're nervous."

He smiled down at her, "and you are really cute when you are determined. Scary, but cute."

Then, standing in an ocean in Hawaii, at almost 4 a.m. in the morning, on less than three hours of fitful sleep, Roshaun and Dairine had their first kiss. It was quick and unsure, neither one of them had any experience with this kind of a thing before, and they had no idea of what was acceptable to the other. Particularly as the other was an alien.

"Look, Roshaun, we are standing right where the moon is reflected."

He smiled, "remember the first time we went up there? That was when I first really saw you."

She smiled back, "I do remember. I took your hand as we were leaving, and I didn't need to. I made the excuse that I didn't want you to be lost before the big spell. Kinda ironic that when you did leave it was from the same place I first realized I didn't want you too."

"When did you first know?"

She laughed, "That I was in love with you? Afterwards. I got home from seeing your parents and ran every thing we did together through my mind. It became apparent then, I guess."

"I first knew on Wellakh. You were yelling at Nelaid about how you had no interest in being my queen. I thought I knew then, and later I went back through all the moments. The moon, and how you held my hand. Going into the sun, that was for you. On Wellakh, that dress," at this point Dairine buried her face in her hands. Roshaun laughed, "then you staring out at my people, and you were scared, but you stood there. The aircar and how you tried to reassure me about meeting my father. The whole defending me and 'speaking truth to power' thing. That was when I realized."

"That whole time? Through the mobile's planet and Rashah and everything?"

He nodded.

"Oh, _Roshaun_!" Dairine can't help it, she starts crying again.

He looks a bit alarmed, but gently wipes away her tears

"I do not understand."

"Because you had to go that whole time knowing it, while I was parading around yelling at everyone that it was not what they thought it was."  
"To be fair, you were doing that today too."

She snorted, "only because it was a set up. Nobody sets me up with anyone. I make my own choices."

Roshaun laughs, "that I know."

"We should get headed back. It's almost 5. People will start waking up soon. No one sleeps well on the floor."

"Oh and Dairine, you are really cute when you are embarrassed."

Then he added as an afterthought, "and when you are trying to get out of doing things or having conversations that could possibly be revealing."

She shot up her eyebrows in confusion.

"The whole time in the water today, really. You were bright red for most of it. And the chicken fight!"

"Oh God, I thought I was going to have to kill 'Mela for that chicken fight. And in my defense, you were shirtless. It is much harder to not blush when someone is shirtless!" She blushed again.

Roshaun raised his eyebrows at her. And before either of them knew it, their lips were touching once more.

"Now we really need to go."

"We come bearing donuts!" Dairine yelled to the house, and more particularly the four teenagers who had mysteriously migrated closer towards certain other people during the night.

"Wha?" asked Kit, rubbing his eyes.

"Roshaun and I awoke early, so we went out and brought back donuts!" Dairine was counting on the tiredness of the people in question to assume that she meant they went out specifically for donuts, say 30 minutes ago.

Fortunately, they all seemed to not notice the specific wording Dairine had used. Dairine set the donut box on the table as someone suggested they watch Star Wars.

"As long as Nolan can make an effort not to criticize every small detail."

"What are you talking about?" Ronan asked.

"Oh, please Ronan. We all remember the potluck campfire," Dairine said.

"That was about the prequel series. I have only some minor issues with the original series, Miss Jedi," he retorted.

 _What is a Jedi?_

 _I forgot you haven't watched these movies yet! Everything will make sense when you see it._

The aloud she turned to Kit, "when did you tell him that nickname?"

"ummm…"

"Oh forget it. Let's just watch," Dairine said.

And watch they did. On the floor was Nit and Kit, who were leaning back against the couch and sideways against each other. Ronan and Carmela were also sitting on the floor, leaning on the couch, hands entwined. Dairine was laying on the couch, head in Roshaun's lap. He was playing with her hair. In that moment, everything was perfect.

 **A/N: I may have made Dairine a bit out of character, but in GWP, she talks about how much she misses Roshaun, and I wanted to reflect that feeling when she actually admits her feelings for him. She would turn all that missing him, and now having him into this particular conversation. Or maybe not. Feel free to disagree, as this is only my interpretation.**

 **The connection to Meet the Boyfriend is Becca.**


End file.
